1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to handheld flashlights and particularly relates to flashlights that can be disposed in an upright, self-supporting position. This invention also relates to flashlights that utilize battery sources disposed in parallel.
2. Description of Related Art
Connecting flashlight batteries in parallel rather than series circuits has the potential to extend the flashlight's battery life. However, conventional flashlights typically do not utilize such parallel circuits because batteries arranged in parallel tend to charge/discharge each other, which significantly reduces the flashlight's battery life. To combat the disadvantageous discharge, U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,067 discloses a flashlight that utilizes switches disposed in series with each of the parallel batteries. When the switches are opened, the batteries become electrically isolated from each other such that they do not discharge each other. Closing the switches electrically connects the batteries to the flashlight's light source in parallel. Such a flashlight requires extra parts. Moreover, the parallel batteries still discharge each other whenever the flashlight is on because the parallel batteries become electrically connected to each other.
It is known to provide mechanisms that hold flashlight in self-supporting upright positions to free an operator's hands. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,822 discloses a flashlight with a support clip to hold the flashlight in an upright position. Unfortunately, since the clip is small relative to the flashlight, the clip cannot stably support the flashlight. U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,452 discloses a flashlight with legs that expand into a tripod position to support the flashlight in an upright position. Unfortunately, the legs make the flashlight cumbersome and bulky. Other known mechanisms for holding a flashlight in a self-supporting upright position are bulky, complex, and render the flashlight cumbersome to operate.